


Lydia Listens

by MizJoely



Series: Sherlolly AU Prompts [16]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Parentlock, Sherlolly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-03 15:38:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5296823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MizJoely/pseuds/MizJoely
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the sequel to my previous one-shot “Simon Says” and will be entirely from the perspective of five-year-old Lydia Hooper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lydia Listens

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone who asked that I continue that story, which was prompted by Anonymous on tumblr: Our children are best friends au. Sherlolly.

Mummy and Mr. Holmes were doing The Thing again. Simon had been the first of the two children to notice The Thing, but once he pointed it out to Lydia, she saw it just as many times as he did. First Mr. Holmes would say something to make Mummy laugh. Then he’d look away, probably at Simon but sometimes just at something else, and Mummy’s eyes would get all soft and she’d let out a quiet little sigh as she looked at Mr. Holmes. Then as soon as she was looking at something else or at Lydia or Simon, Mr. Holmes would look at Mummy and his eyes would do the same funny getting-soft thing. He wouldn’t sigh but he looked like he wanted to. His lips would move a little like he was going to maybe say something, but he never did.

Mummy and Mr. Holmes were friends, just like Simon and Lydia were, and had been for a pretty long time now. Long enough for all of them to have birthdays, even Mr. Holmes who said grown-up birthdays were boring and Mummy who pretended to forget when she was born. Mr. Holmes was so smart that he already knew when Mummy was born, even the year which Lydia had never known before. And she knew Mr. Holmes must be right because Mummy did that scrunchy-face thing she did when she was kinda-sorta mad at someone and Mr. Holmes did that big-smiley-face thing he did when he knew Mummy was being mad about something silly, which always made Lydia and Simon laugh. 

Now that they were both five, Lydia and Simon were going to go to regular school in the fall, not ‘baby school’ anymore, which was what Simon called it even though Lydia knew he liked it just as much as she did. At least he liked their teacher Mrs. Simmons, whose name Lydia was just beginning to be able to say properly now that her speech therapist had finally got Lydia’s mouth to work the way it was supposed to instead of turning all her esses into tee-haitches.

It was summer so there wasn’t any school, and it was Sunday so Lydia and Mummy were having dinner with Mr. Holmes and Simon and Granny Hudson (who wouldn’t let Lydia call her Mrs. Hudson like Mummy thought was Proper and ‘Spectful) and Mr. John and Mrs. John. Their real names were Dr. Watson and Mrs. Watson but Simon called them Mr. John and Mrs. John cause that was what he called them when he was a baby and it sorta stuck and now Lydia was allowed to call them that, too. Even though Mummy though that wasn’t Proper and ‘Spectful either. She and Mr. Holmes (who told Lydia to call him whatever she liked but Mummy was already Not Happy about the other names so Lydia just called him Mr. Holmes) sometimes got very loud about the names thing, but Simon promised they weren’t for-real fighting so Lydia decided to just let the grown-ups be silly about it.

Grown-ups were silly about a lot of things that kids like Lydia and Simon thought were pretty stupid, like bedtimes and veg and music lessons (Lydia played the piano and Simon played the violin like Mr. Holmes). The Thing was one of those silly things, too. The way they looked when they thought no one was paying attention was very silly. But kind of ‘mantic too. That was one of Lydia’s favorite things to do right now, call things ‘mantic when they were silly-sweet. Like the way Mummy and Mr. Holmes did The Thing.

Lydia did as Mummy asked and ate her peas, although she made a face because they were so nasty even though Granny Hudson put butter on it for her. Sometimes she wished she could feed her veg to Simon’s dog Redbeard Junior the way her friend did, but the one time she tried Mummy caught her and was very stern about it. “No feeding the dog at the table, Lydia, or any other time unless Mr. Holmes or Mrs. Hudson tell you it’s all right.”

But Simon was very good at not getting caught feeding Redbeard Junior at the table. One day Lydia wanted to be just as good at not getting caught at things as Simon was. Not because she wanted to be naughty, but because Simon told her it was what his daddy called A Portant Life Skill. Simon didn’t do _really_ naughty things, like hurt anyone or be mean or steal things, but he said he wanted to be a ‘tective like his daddy so he needed to practice the Portant Life Skills.

Like listening. Listening was a Portant Life Skill too and Lydia was very good at listening, Mrs. Simmons and Mummy both said so. Even Mr. Holmes said she was very good at it when he read a letter to Mummy and Lydia, and Lydia could tell him everything he said even if it wasn’t in exactly the same order. “She’s very observant,” Mr. Holmes told Mummy, and Lydia could tell by the way he said it that it was a Compliment. So she thanked him just like Mummy told her was polite and he looked surprised but then he smiled and said “You’re very welcome, Miss Lydia” and she wanted very badly to hug him like Simon would have if he’d said it to him.

But for some reason Mummy said no, Lydia couldn’t hug Mr. Holmes. She could hug Simon and Mr. John and Mrs. John and Granny Hudson, but not Mr. Holmes. Lydia and Simon thought it had something to do with The Thing, so that’s why Lydia was being very quiet at dinner and being as Very Observant as she could and listening hard to everything everyone was saying.

She wasn’t trying to listen to things she wasn’t supposed to hear, but when she scused herself and went to the loo and came back out, Mr. John and Mrs. John were in the kitchen talking in sort of whispers about how long it was going to take Mr. Holmes to get his head out of his arse (she didn’t know that word so she would have to ask Simon what it was because she had a feeling Mummy wouldn’t tell her). So Lydia waited in case they said something that would explain what the word meant but instead Mrs. John made a big sigh and said it wasn’t just Mr. Holmes, but that Mummy (she called her Molly like all the other grown-ups did) needed to stop worrying that she wasn’t good enough to be with Mr. Holmes (but she called him Sherlock of course).

Lydia felt her eyes get very big when she heard that; Mummy was _perfect_ , why wouldn’t she think she was good enough for Mr. Holmes? They had dinner here every Sunday and sometimes Mr. Holmes and Simon came to their flat to visit and they went to the zoo and the museums and the parks all the time! Then Lydia thought about how sometimes Mr. Holmes could say things that were mean even though she didn’t think he knew he was doing it, and how Mummy would get for-real mad at him, and that just made Lydia mad to know that maybe he made Mummy feel she wasn’t good enough for him.

Lydia didn’t get for-real mad a lot, but when she did, Mummy said she had her Gran’s temper. Lydia knew that meant that she would be happy most of the time but then something would get her so mad she couldn’t be quiet about it. For Gran most of the time it was football or rugby or Great-Aunt Mathilda or the post-man.

Right now, Lydia was for-real mad at Mr. Holmes and she stomped into the sitting room where the table was set up. She went right up to Mr. Holmes and stamped her foot on the floor and made fists out of her hands (but kept them down because she wasn’t mad enough to hit him yet) and yelled at him, “My Mummy is good enough for you and you better stop making her feel like she isn’t! That’s not nice!”

Then, because she was Lydia and she didn’t like getting for-real mad, she started crying and ran over to Mummy and told her she was sorry for being mean to Mr. Holmes but she knew Mummy was good enough for anyone, even him.

All the grown-ups starting talking very loud except Mummy, who was holding her and telling her it was all right. Simon got up without asking Granny Hudson or his daddy if it was all right and came over and hugged Lydia but didn’t say anything either. Mr. Holmes was yelling at Mr. John for upsetting her and Mrs. John was saying very loudly that they didn’t know she’d heard them and Mr. John was saying the same thing only even louder and Granny Hudson was saying things like ‘it’s all right’ and ‘calm down’ and ‘isn’t the child upset enough’.

“ENOUGH!” Mr. Holmes yelled very loudly. His face, when Lydia peeked up at him, was very red. “Everyone out!” He pointed at the front door and Granny Hudson got up and went out very quickly. Mr. John and Mrs. John still looked mad but they left too. But when Mummy stood up (picking Lydia up in her arms like she was still a little baby), Mr. Holmes shook his head and pointed at her. “Not. You.” he said and Lydia could hear that each word was its own sentence. “Simon, take Lydia upstairs to your room so Molly and I can talk. Please.”

Lydia wiggled around so that Mummy would put her down. She’d stopped crying because this was all very new and scary but kind of exciting too. Simon promised to take care of her and Mummy set her down after kissing her on the nose. But she kept looking over at Mr. Holmes and there was a funny look on her face. Not a bad-funny, but not a look Lydia remembered seeing before. “I’ll be up to get you in little bit, luvvy,” she said when she looked at Lydia again. 

Lydia nodded and let Simon pull her to the door. He didn’t shut it all the way behind them, though, and when Lydia started to go up the stairs to his room he shook his head and gave her a big smile. “Shh,” he said and got close to the door. She came closer too, even though she knew it was Not Good to listen at doors like this, but she wanted to know what Mr. Holmes and Mummy were going to talk about. Because if it was going to be a fight and they stopped coming on Sunday’s and Lydia only got to see Simon at school she would be very mad and sad and it would be all her fault.

“It’s not your fault,” Simon whispered, like he could hear what she was thinking. He did that a lot but Mummy and Simon and Mr. Holmes all said it was just because he was Very Observant too. So Lydia nodded even though she wasn’t sure he was right this time, and did what she was best at: she listened.

And this is what she heard.

“Molly, I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you. I know sometimes I can be…difficult…but you knew that about me from the start. I never realized I made you feel like you weren’t good enough. That was never my intention, I promise.”

“It’s all right, Sherlock.” Mummy gave a small sigh. “I know you actually treat me better than your other friends, and I know it’s because Lydia and Simon are such good friends. Please don’t think…it’s all right,” she said, and her words were coming very fast the way they always did when Mummy was nervous. “I won’t ever let things get between the children, even if we’re not…even if I’m…oh, I’m just being silly. I should get Lydia, we should go…”

“No, you should stay. In fact, you should stay forever.”

Lydia felt her eyes getting very big indeed when he said that, and she saw Simon was smiling his biggest, happiest smile. But then Mummy started talking and Lydia went back to listening. “Sherlock, I don’t…”

“For God’s sake, Molly, surely you must know how I feel about you by now? Do you actually have to hear me say the words? Fine, then. I love you. I love you, and I love Lydia and I want you both to be a permanent part of my life. My life, and Simon’s. He adores you both. So does Mrs. Hudson, and John and Mary. Gavin thinks you’re the best thing that ever happened to me besides Simon, and I can’t say I disagree.” (Gavin was really ‘Tective Inspector Lestrade but Lydia held back her usual giggles when Mr. Holmes said his name wrong, because she wanted to hear what else he was going to say.) “Even Mycroft likes you, and when my parents get back from their latest expedition to the wilds of North America and I can properly introduce you both to them, they’ll love you just as much as Simon and I do. So will you please just do what we all want – including yourself – and say yes?”

“Say yes to what, exactly?” Mummy asked in a funny voice. The one she had when she was trying not to cry. Lydia wasn’t sure why she would be crying right now since all the things Mr. Holmes had said were lovely and nice and not mean at all.

“Marry me. Move in with us. I’ll move my laboratory down to the basement flat and turn the room next to Simon’s into a second bedroom. And it won’t be difficult to talk Mrs. Hudson into letting us renovate the storage space into a third bedroom and add a bath up there as well and…”

Mr. Holmes stopped talking very suddenly and there were some odd noises coming from the room. Lydia looked at Simon, and Simon looked at Lydia, and they both pushed the door open just a little bit wider so they could see what was happening.

Mummy and Mr. Holmes were standing very close to each other. Mummy’s arms were around his shoulders and his arms were around her whole body and they were kissing. Simon and Lydia both smiled and hugged each other and did a little happy dance, sort of jumping up and down and giggling.

Mr. Holmes must have stopped kissing Mummy because Lydia heard him say, “Now that we’ve got that cleared up, will you please let Lydia start calling me Sherlock? There’s no need to worry about how she and Simon will feel, since you can see for yourself they’re fairly pleased at how things have worked out.”

Mummy’s cheeks were very pink when she turned to see Lydia and Simon in the doorway. She smiled and knelt down and held out her arms and both Lydia and Simon ran up to her and hugged her. “I guess the four of us are going to be a family now!” Mummy said and Lydia had never been so happy to listen to anything in her whole life.

She thought the same exact thing when she and Simon were six and Mummy and Sherlock each said ‘I Do’ at their wedding, and she thought the same exact thing again when she and Simon were seven, and again when they were nine, when she heard each of her new baby brothers crying for the first time.

Because listening to her family was Lydia’s favorite thing to do.


End file.
